Barclays plans to issue £5.8billion new shares

Barclays aims to issue £5.8billion in new shares to plug shortfall

By Nicole Hamer |

14:02 30 July 2013

Plans have been revealed by Barclays to raise £5.8billion via new shares in order to assist them with filling a capital hole. Barclays has a £12.8billion hole to fill.

The plans come about after Barclays let it be known about its £12.8billion shortfall. The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority has said that Barclays needs to fill this £12.8billion hole by mid-2014.

Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins said: “The Board and I are aware of the implications of a rights issue for shareholders.

“We hope to balance this with reduced uncertainty in the outlook for Barclays and with enhancement of our dividend payout from 2014.”

The bank must fill the capital hole in regards to a new buffer from the Bank of England.

It is understood that the new shares from Barclays will be issued at a discounted price. This is so that they comply with British regulators.

The news comes as the bank revealed its figures for the first six months of 2013. For this period, their adjusted pre-tax profits finished by showing a decrease of 17per cent to £3.6billion.

Barclays, whose headquarters are in London, are a universal bank with different operations, including in retail and investment banking among others.

It operates both in the UK as well as a certain number of other countries.